Control stick movement limited by seat pan.

[rizzz]

Hi all,

Over the last week I’ve installed the tail back onto my plane in order to rig the controls so I could install the pushrod assembly etc.
As per the plans I fixed the control stick with an 1/16” shim to the spar tunnel and with the elevator at the full down stop I drilled the short and long pushrods to each other.
A little filing to the hole in the rear spar carry through was required in order to get full movement without interference but nothing major.
Without the seat installed I am able to move the stick fully forward and fully aft pushing the elevator control horn against the stops each way, I get a perfect 25 degrees up and a little more down.

However, when I install the seat I cannot pull the control seat fully back, it seems the holes in the seat pan would need to be enlarged backwards at about ½” backwards.
The way it is now I get only between 20 and 22 degrees elevator up at the point the control sticks contacts the back of the holes in the seat pan.

Has anybody else come across this issue?
I assume it’s no big deal to enlarge the holes slightly?

[falvarez]

I had to enlarge the hole in the seat pan by about 3/16" on the aft side. Like you, without the seat, I was getting the exact up and down travel I wanted.

[Fastcapy]

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[tonyr]

Enlarging the hole is no problem.

The other thing to check is wether the control frame drags under the seat pan when you are sitting in it, can happen with the lowered seat mod.
I could feel my dual control frame hanging up so in the end the easiest thing for me to do was to raise the seat pan back up a little.

I do tend to have full hard backstick on a 3 pointer to plant that tail...

so much so my "Vacated of all runways" call is often a little squeaky

[rizzz]

Alright thanks all.
Makes me feel better others have seen the same issue.

BTW, I have had most of the other common clearance issues at the elevator horn etc. as well but since these have already been discussed many times before I wasn’t too concerned and just did whatever grinding was required to fix the issue.
This one was a new one (at least I had not heard or read about it yet), hence I just thought I’d make sure.

LOL Richo!
At least I’ll know it’s you if I hear that squeaky call on the radio one day

[Sonerai13]

I do tend to have full hard backstick on a 3 pointer to plant that tail...

Interesting. We never come anywhere near full back stick on a 3-point touchdown. Full aft stick grossly over-rotates the airplane in the flair and will cause the tailwheel to touch down long before the main wheels on our aircraft. Landing like this tends to "plant" the mains down fairly firmly, with the tailwheel being the fulcrum, thus resulting in a fairly decent bounce. Flying the airplane onto the runway in three-point attitude and getting all three wheels to touch at the same time results in a much smoother (and easier on the teeth) landing.

Once the airplane is on the ground, full back stick is applied as per normal tailwheel procedure. But full back stick in the flair doesn't work for us.

[fjdoug]

I do tend to have full hard backstick on a 3 pointer to plant that tail...

Once the airplane is on the ground, full back stick is applied as per normal tailwheel procedure.........

i think that is what tonyr said !

[tonyr]

Yep, should have qualified, full back stick after touchdown.. I have done the big flare with too much stick and it ain't pretty
A local photographer whose name I don't know took this one of my plane landing on a slight downhill runway.. the pressure was on, I think it was a good one!